I had a cousin from California come deer hunt in Wisconsin in November, harvest a doe and now need to get 43# of processed frozen meat from WI to CA. UPS or FedEx shipping costs are ridiculous ($300+ For 2nd day delivery)

Anyone have suggestions on how to ship?

Thanks, Dave

Not that this is a possibility now, but I've found that checking the meat on my return flight is BY FAR the cheapest way to get meat back.

You did not say, but how is your cousin getting home? If he is flying just have him take the meat, (up to 50lbs) in an airline approved wax lined box with one 4 lb. block of dry ice packed in the middle of the meat. This generally costs just 50 bucks as excess baggage (check with your airline). If he is driving home, same thing, but he will probably need to replenish the dry ice once or twice. If he is already home, I would just keep the meat and chalk this up as a lesson. As you have found, shipping heavy boxes of perishables is expensive. It just depends on if he wants venison steak for the 7.00 per pound the shipping is going to cost. Hope this helps.

The meat was processed into sausage, jerky and such so not available to take back on the return flight.

Dave

Check on the time for normal ground shipping through UPS or Fedex. Sometimes ground shipping will be the same time frame as air, but much cheaper.

Do not ship until a week with no holidays in it, and after the holidays.
Ship on a Monday.
Get an insulated box (find someone who gets shipped frozen items. Medical/Vets, Jenny Craig or other frozen food users).
Use frozen gel ice packs as needed but keep the box under 70 lbs.
Have any friends that do a lot of shipping that can get you a better deal?

Second day Air and Plastic blue ice packs.

Pack in a box with meat double bagged and vacuum sealed tight. Put in 2 pop bottles with water frozen and wrap in houseninsulation. Will stay frozen for 3 days this way and barely thawed on 4th

My brother and family was here recently and had a processed deer to take back.

We purchased two cheap chest type chests. $20.00 each.

All the meat was vacuum packed. Divided the meat up between the two. No more than 50 lbs.

Cost was $35.00 extra per box. We had a couple of pounds of dry ice in each.

Arrived still frozen and good shape. It was wrapped after it was inspected at the airport.

Sheesh, why complicate things. Get a little 1/2" foam sheet, line large flat rate priority boxes with the foam. Open up a large garbage bag, put in box and stuff tight with meat. Put the whole mess in the freezer for a couple of days. Tape the crap out of the box and ship on a Monday!

That will work, especially this time of year.

For future reference let us know if that foam lined box with the garbage bag idea works. Also it would be nice to know how long it takes to get there if you send it on a Monday after the holidays. On hunts out west I have been advised by Outfitters not to ship meet home frozen, but to take the 50 lb as excess baggage. They say too many variables. Good luck!

A lot cheaper.

I ship tons of frozen items all over the country, whole animals and pelts. Get a heavy duty box that will fit all the items, use r19 insulation and just line the whole inside of the box, get about 5-7 lbs dry ice, put that in there and tape up all the seams really good with tape. It'll be rock hard still 3-4 days later. Ship FedEx on a Monday with there cheapest fastest delivery, be like 2-3 days. Somewhere between $50-$70 for shipping. That's your best option

I need to find a store that sells styrofoam coolers small enough to mail at a reasonable price. I'd like to find them locally, but I may have to order them. This weather is perfect for mailing meat, especially since Christmas is over. Once New Years passes, it'll be wide open for shipping meat


I'd love to find a cooler that fits in a flat rate box, but I'll take what I can get

Thanks folks for the responses. My cousin put this out on a website called uShip and had a bid come in for $125 for 2 day delivery from an OTR trucker running a refrigerated trailer. So I'm packing it in two coolers with ice packs inside and off it goes.

Will let everyone know how this turns out. My cousin and I already talked on next falls hunt and just taking the meat (or a portion of) back on the flight to CA. Some pretty expensive venison for the first go around.

Dave

Be careful about Uship. I've dealt with them 3 times on motorcycles, 2 unhappily. Make sure the truck is running a team operation, a solo driver can't make that run in two days. Get everything in writing, promises made via the Uship board and text won't help you and I'll tell you from experience if there's trouble with the shipment Uship's response is 'These are independent contractors, we're not responsible, we just broker the loads'. Very best of luck, hope it goes well.

I`ve had bad luck with Uship.I sent two gaylords out this fall and It took 15 days to go 400 miles.Then It sat there for 5 days at the depot because they didn`t feel like taking It to the end user.On the 6th day they called and said they would be there the next day,well that went on for the next four days.The end user had to go and pick It hiself.I`am sure happy It wasn`t frozen meat In those gaylords.Beware of Uship.

Used to work at a fish processing business that served people who went offshore fishing. We had them ship their clothing home in a UPS box and fly their frozen fish as luggage, thus avoiding next day air expenses.

Do you know a trucker you trust?

Dry ice is the only way to go. You can ship up to 8 pounds of it, make sure you declare it because it is a hazardous material. Then ship USPS, it will be about $100. Cheapest way to guarantee it will get there still frozen. UPS will be about $160 and more reliable/faster, but USPS should be fine. Two day air would be about $350, but not necessary.

Well this Saturday I met the truck driver who lives in Green Bay along with his driving partner from DePere, we talked about his route to CA among other things. He took the two coolers of frozen venison and we parted. Received word from my Cousin that the coolers arrived untampered about 10am on Monday and everything looked good.

Glad we connected with an honest driver. Will definitely be doing things different for this falls hunt.

Dave

That's good to hear, glad it al worked out well.

Take the 300 bucks to a local butcher shop and just by some pig and cow.

Agree! This venison got pretty pricey. For my Cousin at least he can say one time he ate some venison harvested on his land in Wisconsin

Dave